February 10, 2008

Valentine's Day Ideas: Steak and Potatoes

This was one of my husband's suggestions. And he grilled the steaks for the "photo shoot" aspect of this post. Like most of our best meals - this one we cooked together.

First, the steaks.

Well, actually, let me back up and say ORIGINALLY, when I went shopping whatever day this was last week, I had planned to get duck breast for another meal idea I have for this series. But the store I went to didn't have any, so I bought some steaks instead. These were inch thick sirloin strip steaks, a little over half a pound each. My husband had a rub already mixed from a previous grilling session, so he coated the steaks with that and let them stand while he started the grill.

Meanwhile, I got going on the other food.

First - had to get the potatoes going. I cut up about 6 red potatoes - skins on, into cubes or chunks around an inch in size, give or take.

And I thawed some tarragon in olive oil that I'd frozen last fall.

I combined this with the potatoes, a bit more olive oil and some salt and pepper, and put the whole mixture in a 13 x 9 baking dish.

And I popped that pan, uncovered, into a preheated 400 degree oven. You could use another kind of potato if you want to, or a different herb, or a blend. Whatever you like.

Then I got out two packages of sliced, mixed mushrooms (again - use whatever you like in the mushroom dept.)

And I minced up a couple of shallots...

And I melted some butter in a pan. I like the flavor of butter with mushrooms, rather than oil.

In went the shallots and the mushrooms. I raised the flame to medium high and put a lid on the pan for a couple of minutes to soften everything, then removed the lid and added in 3 cloves of garlic - whole, skins on. Just for flavor. I also poured in around half a cup of Marsala wine left from the cannoli I made recently. Sprinkled on some salt and pepper, gave the mixture a good stir, turned the heat down to medium and let it all cook down.

By the time the steaks were ready - let's see, the grill took about 20 minutes to get going and then the steaks cooked for a total of 14 minutes I think - this is how the mushroom mixture looked.

Before serving, I removed the garlic. It hadn't cooked down enough to mash it in with everything else.

And while the mushrooms were cooking, I also made a salad of red leaf lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, orange bell pepper, cucumbers, and mung bean sprouts that we sprouted ourselves. Oh, and some crumbled bleu cheese on top.

And when all this was nearly ready, the steaks came in the house and rested a bit.